


Being 'Weak' Around Human's is OK

by Ladyspirkis4life97



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Bantering between friends, Bittersweet Ending, Dealing with the aftermath of Kirk dying, Fluff, M/M, Mentions of miscarriage, Mentions of poisoning, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Not Beta Read, OR IS IT, Spock has emotions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:34:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25715155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladyspirkis4life97/pseuds/Ladyspirkis4life97
Summary: Spock has been acting differently and out of character, Kirk wants to help him, knowing that his friend must be really compromised to be letting things past the cracks.
Relationships: Past Spock/Nyota Uhura - Relationship, Possible James T Kirk/ Spock
Comments: 9
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is unbetaed, I'm probably going to keep going with this but I needed to get this idea out as soon as I though of it. I'm sorry if Spock is out of character, I tried to keep him as in character as I could. Also Uhura is a queen so there will be no bashing in this story about her so don't worry about that <3 Please enjoy :)

James was sitting next to his best friends, Spock and Leonard in the mess hall of the ship accepting and biting back at the barbs Leonard threw his way about his missed physical. So caught up with teasing he was, he didn’t realize Spock calmly placing the straw through the juice box he had been waving around, half haphazardly trying to puncture it while keeping an eye on the man who wouldn’t hesitate to hypo him in his sleep. Blinking owlishly James looked over at Spock who was reading a pad idly tray empty of food not looking at either of them. He looked away when Leonard said, “Thank you, Spock, I was worried he was going to stab me with that thing, so surprised I was that he had something other than soda in his hands.”

“Juice is still filled with enough sugar to cause lasting health problems if drunk to the excess that Jim does, but you are right it is a significant improvement, maybe we can train him to drink water next.” James pulled the juice box away from his mouth and exclaimed angrily “I am right here you know, you don’t have to train me.” He seethed at the knowing look his two ex-best friends shared and said “Since when do you two get along so well?”

“Since you decided to run off and get yourself killed with radiation poisoning of which only a person with magic blood could cure you of.” James looked at Spock in fascination as his eyes darkened and he said “Yes indeed, Leonard and I have an invested interest in keeping you alive so we have a truce to always do what’s best for you.” Here he turned to look at James with a raised eyebrow as he said “Even if you do not request it.” 

Even though it was a jab towards him, it was amazing to see Spock bantering so James had to laugh as he shook his head “Yes of course Mr. Spock, it is only logical that you protect your captain.”

He had meant it jokingly but Spock responded with “Exactly.” Then went back to his pad, leaving Leonard and James to look at each other questioningly. 

“Well, I best be getting to the med bay before it catches on fire, let me know if anyone is dying.” He got up, ignoring James's eyes warily watching him, helpless as he felt a hypospray sting his neck and him say “Don’t eat blackberries, apparently that’s another thing to add to your list.” Warily James looked down, already seeing the hives disappearing and sighed as Spock said “Added to the list, thank you, doctor.” 

With a grunt Bones left, leaving him and Spock alone, he said softly “You know I can take care of myself right? I’ve been practically doing it since I was born.”

Spock gripped onto his pad, the only sign of his distress as he said “I know you can, even though I can’t fathom why a mother would allow her offspring to do so, I do know you are capable. As your first officer though I must keep a record of what you are allergic to so as to prevent a diplomatic incident.” Spock then stood up and said “I’ll see you on the bridge captain,” and walked away after giving him a slight nod. With his head whirling James went to get up, only to be grabbed onto by Uhurha and strong-armed back down to a sitting position. He rubbed his arms and whined pathetically, “Uhura if you wanted to get me alone you only needed to ask.” He finished with a leer that earned him a kick in his shins, which wasn’t fair because she knew he was only kidding and she said “Spock is worried about you, be prepared for some interesting events to occur.” James looked at her, lost as to what she meant. He knows after his brush with death he had broken up with her, Spock claimed it was logical but everyone knew he just hadn’t expected how much James' death would affect him so he decided to fold into himself to protect people from his volatile emotions.

He didn’t think it had affected him all that much though, not enough to confide in Uhura who was still his closest friend. Uhura looked at him in exasperation and just as she was about to say something over the intercom they heard Spock say “Captain, you are five minutes late, I suggest you get to the bridge now.” Shocked James got up, ignoring Uhurha’s knowing expression they walked together towards the bridge and James said: “I understand, thank you for the heads up, I’ll talk to him.” They walked to their respective positions, Spock leaving him to stand next to James, hands clasped behind his back as James said softly, “Quarters after shift, I think we need a game of chess.” Stiffly, Spock nodded, going back to his station and checking on things the image of the perfect Vulcan. After a fight with the Klingons that was interrupted by some Romulans leading to a tag team of Klingon and Federation VS Romulans and a shaky truce in the aftermath with fifteen casualties, James was very much in need of a chess game with his first officer. He hung up on the last family member with a heavy sigh, tiredly yelling a come in when he heard his door chime.

Spock stepped in, back ramrod straight and hands clenched behind his back and James relaxed, sending a soft smile to his friend, watching in amazement as Spock's demeanor changed with the smile. His hands came to his side and he walked towards him with measured steps, back still straight and gently placed a hand on his shoulder, something he rarely did and meant a lot to him when it happened. James relaxed into the hug, the same thing as a hug between them and said sadly, “Fifteen people Spock, is it selfish I’m thankful none of them were you or Bones or Scotty? I care about everyone but I care about you three the most.” The hand on his shoulder gripped tighter, but not enough to hurt, Spock was always hyper-aware of his strength with humans and he said: “We care about you a lot Jim, I am thankful that you were not hurt.” It came out pained and James wanted to shake him, emotions were ok to show, he was half-human it was normal to accept, telling your friends you’re happy they aren’t hurt is something James feels is universal across all species. James smiled up at him and said “Spock, you never cease to surprise me, thank you.”  
Spock pulled a chair next to him and sat down, keeping his hand on his shoulder and said “You are welcome, James. Are you ready for some chess now or would you prefer me to leave.” He thought about tossing and turning in his bed, nightmares flaring up and around, and always the memory of feeling Spock die from the memories of the ambassador and said: “Could we just talk for a little while, I’m not sure I could focus on a proper chess game.” Spock released his shoulder and James fought resolutely not to chase the warmth and comfort it brought to him as Spock said: “I can try, I have been told I am not very good at small talk, however.”

James laughed and patted Spock's arm, smiling wider as Spock looked at the hand with an eyebrow raised and said “You do just fine in my opinion Spock.” It was a tender moment that James was ok with letting morph into something and it almost seemed like Spock was too but instead Spock said: “You must be exhausted, here let me get you some tea and run you through some meditation techniques to ease your mind.” Normally James would disagree, meditation had been tried before but he always found his brain wandering, solving random math equations or focusing on a thought that came by and latching on instead of just releasing it but he figured Spock probably needed it to, he was on the frontlines and even that Vulcan exterior had to have gotten tired from it. So he nodded and let Spock get the stuff to make tea, asking for some boiling water and putting the tea in to steep. Spock came over and they sat next to each other, Spock shifting to press his shoulder against James and said while they waited for the tea to be done “I apologize for earlier, I was merely wanting to remind you of your duties to this ship and her crew.”

“Couldn’t you have sent me a message on the pad then?” Silence followed as Spock poured their tea and James said “Look, Spock every sense I died and came back you’ve been acting off. You are always up before me, which is normal this is true, but you always greet me at my door which you never used to do. You always sit right next to me, silently glaring at Leonard if he tries to, and don’t deny it you do. Then there was today on the bridge, you just seem reluctant to leave me alone and I want you to know it’s ok to be scared about losing me, especially after what happened to your planet and mom.” 

Spock drunk his tea and said calmly “As the first officer, I must make sure you arrive on the bridge on time and all the other matters you brought up is what I have been told friends do.”

“So you greet Leonard with a slap on the shoulder like you’re trying to make sure he’s real too?” 

“Leonard isn’t my friend Jim.” Jim smiled at Spock, wincing as he saw Spock begin to withdraw into his Vulcan exterior and said “Spock I thought Vulcan's didn’t lie.” 

“They didn’t use to,” Spock responded by silently looking away and drinking some tea.  
“Spock, look at me I want you to acknowledge how scared you are.” 

Spock stood up angrily and said “I was not scared! I was furious, I was going to beat him to death and I felt such primal emotion I never wanted to feel again. You make me weak James, weak in ways Uhura never did and I just want to make sure you have not hurt yourself again. Is that such a problem.” He looked shocked at his outburst and stood straight up as he said “Forgive me I need to go meditate.” He went to leave but James grabbed onto his hand and stood up as he said “Damn it Spock what does that mean? I make you weak because you care about me? You’re weak for caring about your crewmates? How is that weak at all! Forget those stupid Vulcan teachings, it’s ok to care.” 

Spock turned around and gripped his hand hard as he said while looking in his eyes “You make me weak because I love you. I would do anything for you and go through any distance. That’s why I broke up with Uhura because I would be angry at her death, but I do not think I would fly into a murderous rage about it and I knew it was wrong to continue a relationship when it wasn’t her those feelings were for. I am weak because I let my emotions come to the surface and I let it dictate all of my actions towards you, justifying my actions with shaky logic so I wouldn’t be sick from the guilt of not being Vulcan enough when half of my people were wiped out. We need Vulcan's now more than ever Jim and I can’t ignore that, no matter how stupid you think the teachings are.”

He yanked his hand away and all but ran away, leaving James to collapse into his chair and stare at the door. A love confession spouted through withheld emotions coated in the disgust of feeling such emotion at all. It was painful, knowing that while his feelings were returned they were unwanted, and he might very well have caused Spock to try to become Vulcan even more not realizing he already was. The only people who slip up his mask are the crew, primarily the bridge crew, hell he still has to argue with some of the crew who think he’s an emotionless monster who hurts feelings on purpose. He cleaned up and threw himself onto his bed, burying his face into the pillow and using it to muffle his screams. He suddenly felt very tired, so emotionally drained and he promised himself he would fix whatever happened between them the next day. He fell asleep not seeing the alien standing over him or feeling it when he was beamed off of the ship, setting off the alarms.


	2. Weakness is Strength

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was asked to continue this and so here it is, I'll be making another chapter this one ran away with me. I took liberties with Plato's Stepchildren since this was an Alternate universe, I hope I created a diverse cast of characters and stayed true to the source material as much as I could.

Spock was in his captain's quarters the moment the red alert sounded, quickly followed by Leonard gruffly asking “What the hell happened here Spock?” 

Cold Vulcan resolve came over him as he simply replied “I do not know but I intend to find out,” as he pulled his scanner out and looked around, “Doctor I have picked up trace amounts of alien DNA but I do not know from what race, our scanners do not recognize it.” 

Quickly, Leonard was at his side, scanning as well, “God Damn it, every time he attracts trouble,” he snapped his scanner shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. Over the speaker system, Uhurha’s voice said “We are being hailed Spock, doctor.” 

“Well let’s get this week's death threat out of the way,” Leonard said dryly as Spock merely moved towards the turbo-lift not saying anything, back rigid as he waited for the doctor to join him. It was a testament to how they had bonded those three days of Jim being out after being killed that he waited at all and Leonard knew better than to demand why Spock wasn’t reacting, seeing the telltale tightening of his jaw and the hands tightly clasped behind his back. Leonard almost felt bad for the aliens that target their friend. Once on deck, no one announced him there as Spock tersely said “On screen,” and smoothly sat in the captain's seat, Leonard standing by his side and glowering at the screen. A woman popped up, dressed in an ancient Greek toga dress with her hair up in the chignon style she was smiling serenely as she said: “Hello Mr. Spock, so this is the man who our little pet hadn’t stopped screaming the name of.” With a slight touch on his shoulder by Lenoard with his finger, Spock settled down, embarrassed that he was already up out of his seat at the news. The alien’s smile formed into a smirk as she said “Peace you’re erômenos is asleep, he wasn’t very entertaining, we’re hoping you will be though, come get your captain if you can.” 

She blew a kiss at them and cut off communications and Sulu said “Captain we are receiving coordinates, I believe it will lead us to the captain as it’s coming from the alien species.” A view of a ship leaving frustrated the crew but they knew they couldn’t blow it up and risk upsetting the cruel new species so Spock said “Direct course to those coordinates, let us get our captain back.” He leaned back, wary of the little smiles his crew was sending his way, shouldn’t they be upset about Jim missing?” 

“Mr. Sulu, why were you just handing money over to Mr. Checkov?” Checkov looked at him sheepishly and widened his eyes as Ururha counted the money she got from four different crewmen, including Leonard. Sliding the bills into a purse she had next to her she casually said “ Oh just a little bet we had don’t worry about it.” She smiled with a twinkle in her eye that Spock didn’t like, but he was a Vulcan and above begging for details. So instead he said, “If this is about the alien’s comment, Captain Kirk and I are not in any sort of relationship.”  
Sulu looked at Chekov with hope in his eyes as he started to give the money back only for Uhura to say “Not so fast Sulu, these aliens seem to know information we do not, I propose we wait on giving any money back until we are proven wrong.” There was grumbling amongst the crew and Spock wanted to do the very human thing of shaking his head at their antics. 

They were going into an unknown battle with an alien race they didn’t know and they were teasing each other about the relationship between their senior officers. Staring out at space after Leonard had gone to sickbay with the promise of being alerted when they got to the planet he couldn’t help but wonder what Jim would say when presented with such blatant disregard for their personal life. He tried to fight the smile that came on his lips when he realized that Jim would tell the crew not to make Spock uncomfortable but probably had a bet on it himself. He felt a flash of regret, leaving that night, maybe if he had stayed and given in to the human side of himself he could have prevented him from being kidnapped or at least gone with him to protect him. He looked at the crew and realized how wrong he was, as they lowly talked amongst themselves while continuing ship operations. Much like Jim, they were using humor to protect themselves against the situation, no one could afford to be upset right now and Spock found it fascinating how humans seemed to have adapted their own way of handling negative emotions. Down in sickbay, Leonard was trying not to go for the whiskey, trying to stay busy as he read up as much information as he could going only off of the features that he could remember.

Despite his casual attitude Leonard was terrified, he always was. Jim was allergic to practically everything in the known galaxy and they had no way of knowing just what they did to hurt him. There was also the possibility of a trap and if it had been a few years ago no doubt Spock would have said the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few and would leave him there at their mercy. Now though because Jim had to make the green-blooded hobgoblin love him, they were zipping through space to go and rescue him and Leonard selfishly couldn’t even be mad, even as he knows he’s looking at a possibly full sickbay. Uhura as her way of coping, joked around and playfully flirted with some of the crew, trying to distract them from what was coming while analyzing the language the translator had picked up trying to locate which one it was the alien was speaking. She lowly cursed under her breath when she came up with Standard, that would be no help, smiling weakly as an ensign patted her on the shoulder to take over. It would be another day before they reached the planet and the main crew wanted to be fresh-faced for what laid ahead. 

That night Chekov and Sulu laid in their respective beds, Chekov thinking about his girlfriend down on Earth and if he would ever see her again and Sulu thinking about his husband and daughter and the pain it would bring his daughter to be raised with one less dad. Everyone on the crew agreed that getting Kirk back was priority however, no man behind and they were thankful Spock seemed to have prescribed that attitude as well. Everyone fell into a fitful sleep, wary of how tomorrow would go but ready to bring their all. The next morning was tense as they saw the planet come into view. Under different circumstances, Spock would admire the sea-green of the planet but he was in a hurry to rescue his friend. No, his captain, Spock reminded himself angry that he was feeling so strongly and then angrier at his initial anger. After a few calming breaths, he and Leonard beamed down to the planet with a few members of security and pulled out their phasers when they were met with someone different than before. The man before them had the same outfit on, a toga, and his hair cut short with the same smile on his face. He threw his arms out in a universal sign of welcome and said “Welcome to our Utopia, we are so happy you could come to visit us! What brings you to our amazing city?” Warily the crew looked around seeing the sparkling lakes and the lush grass with trees dotting the area and a pleasant breeze blowing. Ancient Greek statues were around as well a version of the Parthenon fully complete and multiple people were walking leisurely around. The whole vision threw them off but Spock was there for one reason and one reason only as he said as calmly as he could “I believe you are holding our captain captive.” 

The man sighed at the news and said: “I told her no more playing around with you guys, you always bring trouble, come on then we’ll find your captain and then you’ll help us with an issue that we have.” Without warning goblets were floated over to them with just a wave of their hand, Spock’s ears twitching as he grabbed his and heard Leonard behind him complain about stupid space wizards. With a signal, he ordered the team to lower their weapons and followed while Leonard took the opportunity to scan the wine. Without saying anything he tipped the goblet back and drunk, that evidently being enough for the ensigns they drank the wine as well and Spock took a sip as well under the watchful eye of their host. They came to the table where the woman they first met stood with Jim next to her looking relatively unharmed besides a black eye and glazed eyes. Leonard broke rank to run to Jim scanning him as fast as he can and not for the first time Spock felt the disgusting coil of jealousy grow in his gut and almost choke him. He envied the ease of which Leonard put his arm around Jim, how he made a joke that got a weak smile but no noise from him but he had a job to do. 

Mentally shaking the unwanted emotions and acknowledging the Vulcan part crooning at how it was right about needing to control its emotions Spock said “What did you do to our captain?”  
To outsiders it sounded stiff and formal, a necessary inquiry not holding the loathing anyone else would have when faced with someone who has harmed their friend. The man from before sat and said “Please sit, it seems we have much to discuss, Aphrodite sit so you may tell the humans why you did such an extreme thing.” 

Aphrodite looked nervous now, her bravado long gone as she said to Spock, “I grabbed your erômenos to lure you to our planet, we require your medical assistance for our leader. We tried to get the information from him but he was difficult, the mind-altering drugs did not bring forth the truth nor did physical violence.” She smiled fondly at Jim like he was a pet and said “You pick your mates well, he’s very strong and even has a strong mind, are all humans like that now?” Her head tilted, it had been a while since they were last on earth surrounded by humans and she had never seen a person that looked like the man before her. Before questions could be asked Leonard said sharply, “What drugs did you give him? I must get him up to the ship to heal him will you let us leave?” With a lazy hand, the man waved them off, ignoring the angry face of the woman next to him and said “Please you are free to come and go as you want, I’m troubled my daughter has caused this to be anything but Utopic for you. The drug is amobarbital but I would hope as a doctor you wouldn’t leave someone to die.”

Leonard balked at that and said, “Of course I wouldn’t but my captain takes top priority, I will be down to help your men as soon as my captain is cured.” 

With a sigh, the man leaned back into his chair and said “Alright but please hurry, if he dies I can not guarantee your safety.” Leonard nodded and walked outside with Jim, calling to be beamed aboard. A weight lifted from Spock's shoulders and he scowled as Aphrodite said “Look, father, the strange creature was relieved when his erômenos was taken back to safety, my plan worked.” 

Unable to control himself he slammed his palm onto the table and said roughly “We are not lovers! Also, we are both roughly the same age so that term still doesn’t apply.” 

He settled and tried not to look embarrassed as Aphrodite practically clung to her father and said: “Oh my so scary when we talk about his partner do not worry, we accept all relationships.” Spock wanted to smack her or himself he wasn’t sure and would have if Leonard hadn’t materialized then and there ensuring Spock that Jim was ok he just needed to rest. Spock felt a calm flow through him at the idea of Jim resting up in space, away from the people who saw fit to harm him and he inwardly shuddered. So weak, to rely on someone else to make him feel calm and safe, he never felt this way before him, his dad would be so ashamed of him. He walked with Leonard as they followed the man who still hadn’t introduced himself while his daughter skipped childishly next to him despite looking like an adult. He was upset by how little the man seemed to care about his daughter's action, thinking that because everything was seemingly taken care of that it didn’t matter that she cost them two days extra on their mission or that their captain had a chance of not being cured. That Spock, no the crew, got little sleep as they worried about what they would encounter. 

They approached the sickly man, who laid in his bed and looked at them with cloudy eyes as Leonard stood back. The man who had guided them stepped forward and spoke in hushed tones and then stepped back, gesturing to their group. With a grim look, Leonard approached the man and scanned his bio feed, once done he took the man who had shown them where to go and said lowly “This man has been poisoned, I can save him but it won’t do much good if the assassin is still around, he won’t survive much more of the hellebore.” He watched as the man fought his shocked look and had grudging respect when his expression was quickly schooled to not alert the people around him as anyone could be a suspect. Calmly the man smiled widely and said “Thank you for your assistance, please do what you can and let us know if you need anything. Make yourself at home and enjoy the food and wine, I’m sure it hasn’t been tampered with.” Leonard could have facepalmed at his obviousness but looked around nonetheless to see if anyone was dumping anything and was only disappointed but not surprised when he didn’t see anything suspicious. He nodded and walked over to the man, taking out a hypospray used to cure poison and had another Grecian help him with monitoring his life signs. The man who had shown them around approached Spock and said: “Let’s rejoin the main table, I would like to tell you about our people and why we do certain things, you are welcome to leave security behind for your doctor.”

Spock nodded and indicated to one of the ensigns to stay back and then followed the man and his daughter back to the main dining area, where he sat down across from the man and Aphrodite. “Ok introductions, I am Alexander the Great and this is my daughter Aphrodite, collectively we are known as Plato’s Stepchildren.” Spock couldn’t stop the quirk of his eyebrow as he said “Plato, as in the ancient philosopher?” 

Aphrodite spoke up with her eyes sparkling as she said “He won’t like to hear that when he recovers from the poisoning.” Spock was shocked at this knowledge and apparently so was Alexander who quickly hushed her and said “Yes you see a small group of Greeks stumbled upon some alien technology, our leader went in to investigate and it lit up after he pressed a button with strange lettering on it. We all followed him onto it, interested in the lights and sounds and he pressed another button trying to get it to stop and before we knew it, it was floating up above. We were helpless to do anything and so we let it fly, eventually, it came to this planet and by then we had figured out how to work it somewhat, lost and in stars, we didn’t know we found this planet and did what we always did. We found some water and shelter, built a civilization, and farmed. When we didn’t grow old we assumed we were blessed from the gods, it was then that we started naming our children after the gods, as they and this planet were a gift. It’s all our own, no need to conquer land and anything we could possibly want within reach.”

It was a lot of information to take in, but there was one hole in it, “Alexander, how are you here? Plato was long before your time.” Spock said, sure that he had caught the man in the lie and Alexander said: “Ah yes, well some of the original group came back and found me as I laid in battle, my people were told I was dead and they whisked me away so I could avoid an assassination attempt, taking more people with me to this planet so we could have a bigger population.” Spock nodded in understanding, a perfectly logical reaction but one that was worrisome all the same. He said, “You realize you can not come back to earth as you are, it would confuse the people.” 

Alexander raised an eyebrow and looked at his daughter and then back to Spock as he said “Why would we need to go back? We have everything we need here, our life is here, we now only travel to get things we can’t on this planet, we’ve set up a trade of sort with the local planets.” Spock was impressed by their ingenuity and inwardly sighed, they have space travel and everything else needed to be welcomed into the federation and that was partly their job, but Spock wasn’t that good at it, Jim would normally take over with a sly smile and bedroom eyes, easily enticing the people to join but he wasn’t here and that left Spock to do all of the heavy lifting. 

“Well if you would want I could put in a request for you to join the Federation, we could offer a trade of our own and protection, in exchange for goods from your world.” Alexander shook his head and said, “No I think not, the water on this planet is much too precious to share with the world, it’s best that we stay here and not make much of a fuss with it.”

“If you are human why do some of you show signs of telekinesis?” Alexander and Aphrodite shared a look and Aphrodite said while picking up her goblet of wine without using her hands “A while ago a group of aliens showed up, much like you seeking a fellow crew member. Instead of listening to us, they tried to conquer us, many women were raped. We were finally able to take them down, there weren’t many of them, and then we realized the women were pregnant and when those children were born things floated around them much like the conquerors have done. I suppose it just passed on with each generation.”

“Why does a group such as yourself have children aren’t you worried about overpopulation due to the water?”

Alexander said, “We have a different water source for normal everyday water, once we have lived a long life, such as our children getting married and starting their own, we stop drinking the life-giving water and switch to the normal water so we can age like normal, this practice is why our leader was so easily taken to the sickness.” Spock nodded, this was a great deal of trust the people had given him, though he supposed they figured they were no threat since they could control their every movement. Leonard came out of the room and back into the dining room, and Alexander got up to ask questions. With a hand up, Leonard silenced them before they began as he said: “I have cured your leader of the poisoning, back in your time it was mostly given through drink such as water, I would like to test your wild supply, I hope I am wrong because if I am not, the rest of your population might be in danger.” Alexander looked grim as he nodded and went with them to scan the water. Sure enough, readings found that there was indeed hellebore in the water and Alexander scoffed, “I have no idea who would do such a thing, trying to poison the whole planet, how can we solve it?” 

Before Spock could say anything Leonard said “We have water purifier tablets we can give you, it’ll make the water fresher than what comes from the sky.” Spock wanted to reject the offer but he stayed silent with a look from Leonard who took a tablet out and threw it into the water. “It will take a full day for it to take into effect, I suggest you all drink from an alternative water source if you can.”

“We should check the water of life as well if it is poisoned that will narrow the offending party down to only one.”

As they walked Spock said, “Is it part of your policy to only have one person have access to the water?”

“Only I and the priestess have access to the water, she is our voice with the gods and goddesses so she watches over it to make sure the water stays safe. She will not be pleased to have outsiders in the temple but we must test the water.” The thought crossed Spock's mind that it could be Alexander, but he had been truthful so far so he had no reason to think differently. Once at the source, they scanned the water, relieved to find it not poisoned. The priestess, Artemis, seemed irritated that they checked at all and crowed in delight. “See I told you I would never let the water be tainted, I’ve been entrusted with this for generations, I was one of the first.” Leonard went into smoothing feathers mode, talking to her and saying how beautiful and strong she is. She scoffed and said, “Stop with your attempt of seducing, I’m not of your persuasion.”

“Ah you’re a lesbian, I understand my bad you are just so beautiful.” She ignored him and looked to Alexander as she said: “These people come from modern-day earth, why have you taken them into our temple?”

“Peace Artemis, they wish only to help, the main water supply has been poisoned with hellebore.” 

Her face went pale as she whispered angrily “What?”

“The main water supply has been poisoned, why what is wrong?” 

Artemis shook her head and paced as she said “Hercules was down by the water with a pot, I asked him what he was doing and he informed me the leader wanted some water. I hurried him along and went about my duties, a few weeks later our leader fell sick but I never attached the two until now.”

“Zeus's boy are you sure? He’s our best hunter I don’t understand why he would harm our planet like this.”

“It was Hercules, he still doesn’t get that I don’t care for sex, tried to grope me again. A stab with my spear in his leg solved his attitude right quick though.” Leonard subtly backed closer to Spock as she grinned and Alexander nodded as if that was a normal and reasonable action. “He did indeed come home with a spear wound, Zeus had run into my house demanding your blood, I of course reiterated to him that you are a holy figure chosen by the gods themselves but he refused to listen.”

“Of course he didn't, where do you think Hercules learned how to be so lecherous? Hera could do way better. However we must work quickly, Hercules and his family are planning on vacationing on a neighboring planet; we might not be able to get them to come back.”

Alexander nodded and said, “We need more evidence, unfortunately, your eye witness statement isn’t enough.”

“Did he have sole access to giving Plato his water?” Leonard asked Alexander.

“You told them his name? You idiot!” Artemis seemed incensed as she struck Alexander across the cheek and walked away grumbling. 

Rubbing his face Alexander looked at the group and said “Our leader's name is not told to outsiders but I felt like we owed you if you were helping him. To answer your question no he didn’t multiple people did but he was the only one left alone with Plato besides I or my daughter.”

“Hercules, he must have done it at night then, during the day, would have been too hard to hide,” Spock said, grateful that this mystery would be over soon so he could get back to Jim. The more time he spent here the more he felt bad about how he had left Jim, emotions were helping them solve a mystery and heal a planet full of people as well and the emotions are what was driving Alexander to do what he can to protect everyone. Weakness is strength, because only by being weak could he possibly understand how strong he was before by allowing those emotions and still keeping them under control.


	3. Nothing Ever Changes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added some McKirk for anyone interested it's subtle though so I don't know if it is worth tagging, if it bothers you please let me know and I will. This is also the final chapter so please enjoy.

Alexander called a meeting with Zeus and Hercules and sat in his chair while the Starfleet personnel stood at the side and watched. Alexander said, “You’re son Hercules stands accused of poisoning our leader and our water source, does he deny this?” 

Zeus stood firm and said, “My son would never do such a thing, we all love Plato he helped give us this life.”

“Hercules hasn’t made it subtle that he believes our policy of not drinking the life water when we reach a certain point in our life is ridiculous. How convenient that our main water supply was poisoned leaving only the life water left.” Alexander said while leaning forward and resting his chin on his hands. 

Zeus stopped and looked over at his son who was staring definitely at their leader “Yeah I poisoned the water what of it? It is stupid to let us grow old, I shouldn’t have to watch my father age and die when there is a way to keep him alive! I’m not the only one that thinks this but I’m the only one brave enough to do something about it.” Everyone in the room gasped aside from Spock and Alexander looked furious. It was Aphrodite who stood up though and said “Hercules, you don’t understand, you almost hurt Plato and the animals that surround this place. You would have doomed all of us to death, starvation! I don’t want to watch my father die any more than you do, but I do want any future generations to be able to live, you sought to wipe out all of us just for one man.” 

As she said this various poles and tarps floated around and she walked towards him in anger, “You almost hurt our unborn child! I just drank that water a few days ago, you know we can’t drink the life water during that time, we don’t know what effect it would have on it. Don’t you remember all of the miscarriages that happened before Plato set that rule into motion?” 

This question was directed to everyone in the room who cast their eyes down in shame but all Hercules and Alexander could yell were “You’re pregnant?”

Aphrodite gently placed everything back to where it was smiling sheepishly at the two guests and said softly and with sadness “Yes, it was only once but that’s all the Gods needed to bless me with a child and this man tried to kill it. The highest form of crime, killing our own.” Zeus stared at his son with shame over his face and Hercules looked down in contrition, the full weight of his crimes coming down on him. Alexander huffed out a breath and said “This crime can not go unpunished, Hercules, you sought to poison our water so you’re father would not die, I understand the great love you must have for him. From this day forward no one from your family will be allowed to drink from the fountain, my punishment to you is for your family line to die. The child will be raised never knowing you, your records will be destroyed and you and any children you bare will be outsiders here. Other than that your life will remain normal, you can keep your job and house. 

Now out of my sight and live your life in ruin, Zeus let this be a lesson to you, keep track of what you’re children's delusions are.” Zeus bowed with a scowl and marched out dragging a shocked and resigned Hercules behind him. Once they were gone Alexander waved his hands and dismissed everyone and it was just him and his daughter alone with Spock and Leonard. Sighing Alexander said, “I foresee this not being the end of our internal conflict, I ask that now that you have helped you leave us so we can figure out how to stop a civil war from happening.” Spock nodded as did Leonard and they requested to beam onboard. Spock let a small smile come out as Leonard grumbled beside him after they rematerialized in the transporter room. Spock looked around and saw Jim, standing there smiling in relief, before he knew it he was being hugged so hard he almost fell over but his Vulcan strength kept him up. 

Distantly he heard Leonard asking Scotty why Jim seemed to always forget who also saved him but Spock was soon distracted by Jim pulling away and looking away. “Sorry,” he said softly, stepping back with a light smile. Spock wanted to reach out to him but stopped as he saw Jim hug Leonard who hugged back just as tight and they both laughed as Jim tried to lift him off the ground while Leonard complained about Jim being out of sickbay and he realized that despite all of his revelations, he couldn’t do that. He would never be the person to jump Jim the moment he saw him, wouldn’t smile freely and laugh loudly as he attempted to pick him up. Why did Jim like him then, if that was what he obviously desired? Jim walked away laughing, slapping Leonard on the back who slightly swooned as Jim smiled at him. Ah, that explains the anger over always seeing Jim and him together. Spock stomped down the jealousy and tried not to glare as Scotty said “Man, only a matter of time before our chief doctor and the captain get together eh?”

“Shouldn’t you be doing something in engineering?” Spock couldn’t help the firmer steps he took as he followed his two friends. That night Spock was giving his mission report to Jim, Leonard providing his when the two were alone in sickbay while Spock took over the captain seat. Jim nodded as he ate his apple slowly pondering his next move in their chess game when Spock said “Jim, there is something else I wish to discuss.”

Jim moved his rook into position and looked up at him and said “Of course Spock, you can always freely speak with me, that will never change.” His eyes were soft and Spock found himself getting up and sitting next to him, taking his hand in his. He didn’t meet Jim’s eyes as they searched him; he just looked at the wall as he said calmly,” You have been in danger many times, and as a starship captain you will be in danger many times more. I need to accept that fact if I am to be with you and before I wasn’t ready. That hesitation is also not very Vulcan of me, even when I try to be the perfect Vulcan I am finding that I still fail at being one. That planet, everyone was so free with their emotions, they voluntarily gave up living forever because they knew that it’s unnatural. Due to this, a child ended up doing something that could have had drastic consequences much like what I did when I left you that night leaving you vulnerable to alien attacks which will always be the case but, I find myself wanting to be right by your side when it happens, so when you are in danger you at least aren’t alone.” He felt his hand get squeezed and finally looked at him struck by how powerful and wonderful the smile he received was. 

“That was beautiful Spock, I knew you had it in you. So your love for me no longer disgusts your Vulcan sensibilities?”

“Loving you is the most logical thing I have ever done in my life, not loving you is what truly disgusts my Vulcan sensibilities.”

Jim practically swooned and said, “Such a romantic too, so are we doing this, like actually doing this?”

Slowly Spock placed his hand on Jim’s cheek, marveling at how he didn’t flinch even after his first mind-meld was done against his will. Lightly stroking his cheek he said “I will never be as affectionate or loud about my love for you as Leonard is, I don’t want you to flirt with him ever again. If you’ll have me I give you myself completely. I ask that you do the same.” 

He shuddered as Jim took his hand and kissed the palm of his hand as he said: “You not being loud with your affection is exactly why I love you, you are a Vulcan after all, you guys are subtle in your love, but I’ll learn I give myself only to you.”

Spock placed his forehead against Jim and put his hands at his psi points and softly requested, “May I mind-meld with you to form a superficial bond, it will be a great place holder until we can be bonded on New Vulcan.” 

Jim placed his hands over Spocks and nodded slightly smiling, “Please do Spock, I want to experience everything.”

Closing their eyes Spock said as Jim echoed “My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts.” As they melded there was a ghostly echo heard, across the galaxy, Spock Prime was staring at a picture of his Jim and whispering the same words. Across every universe one thing will never change, one way or another, James T. Kirk and S'chn T'gai Spock will always be T'hy'la.


End file.
